Kelsey was euthanized at 12-1/2 years old. After many types of treatments for her arthritis and an ever increasing dose of pain medications, it became time to let her go. She was bright-eyed through her last days, but it was unfair to let her endure the constant pain.

We took her to a local vet at the Ryan Ranch area of Monterey. It is a mix of greenbelt and light industrial/office buildings. Teddy (our male from Kelsey's first litter) went there for his last trip to the vet in August of 2004. Once we left Teddy (whose puppy name was "Rainbow") we walked around the area to decompress a while. After leaving Kelsey, we took the same walk, this time toward the fading sunset over the Monterey Bay. We noticed a few drops of rain against the sun and pivoted on our heals to see a brilliant deep-colored rainbow arching from hill to hill. Without taking a breath, Patty exclaimed "It's Teddy!" We felt like he had come to escort his mom over the rainbow bridge. Within two minutes the rainbow faded into the sky and did not re-appear. They were home.

Kelsey was the daughter of her dad, a two-time national champion, Baron (Reed family) and her mom Dancer (Hefner family). As our own foundation bitch, she produced three-litters with 21-puppies. One of her litters had eleven (11) puppies (pictured below). We still have one of her girls from the very first litter with us (Tule) and one of her grandson's, Benjamin. She was recognized by the BMDCA as a "top-producer" in 2003.

A winner from the start, Kelsey received a "Best Puppy" award at the age of six-months at a match in Ft. Collins, Colorado. She earned her championship at three years old. Her first point came at the Pebble Beach Dog Show from Ms. Wanner, Sr. and later won a major under Annie Clark at San Rafael. At least three of her offspring earned Draft Dog titles and others are still competing in events such as Rally.

Kelsey was an alpha-female from the moment she came into our home. Respected by all the other dogs in the house, she enjoyed her position as queen. Even when her last year was spent mostly napping (similar to other years) she earned an unchallenged place to sleep, first position in the dinner line and would coax the nearby humans to come play with her at the entrance to her favorite crate.

Kelsey loved to visit people and parades were an especially fun time for her. She pull carts and walked after retiring from pulling. She believed everyone was there to see her, of course. We always were...

Kelsey Addendum:
To assist the Berner MH research project, we collected blood to be used in the study which hopes to learn the genetic causes of Histio. Kelsey's sample will be useful as a non-affected dog for controls. They can use samples from as many Berners as can qualify. You can learn more about the project at http://www.bmdca.org/health/FHCRC_Study.htm